Music breaking barriers

Sound Asleep – Midget Porn & Clockwork Surgery

The weirdest thing about this EP from Montreal’s heavy prog trio Soundasleep isn’t their cover art, depicting a plugged Melolontha melolontha (a cockchafer) with the band’s name written on its chitinous thorax, neither the fact that they always seem to carry their birthday suit around, because they never know when they’re gonna need it right. It is rather this little encryption at the back of the cover art, at the very bottom of the page: “SPORT 3D GLASSES, BITCHES”.

Wait, what? What does this even mean, dudes? If I have the chance to interview these guys, please remember me to ask them. This mystery must be unveiled!

So we’ve got almost 18 minutes of music to satisfy our hunger for new music. There’s also the disappointing music quality, which sounds more like a demo than anything else to me. If you can look over this technical detail, however, you’ll find well-written songs, and a lot of musician talent.

The first song, especially, bearing the same name as the CD, is my favorite. Despite being under the mark of three minutes, it is the most interesting song of the album. Insane bass riffage, remembering Primus, given the bassist is also the singer (and sings better than sir Claypool. Sorry, Les), heavy and interesting drums, and cool guitar passages make MP&CS stand out from the rest. The song structure seems well stretched-out, and the vocal melodies are great! What more can you ask?

The meaning of “SPORT 3D GLASSES, BITCHES”?

No, you won’t get it.

I Always Carry My Birthday Suit Around. Yup, that’s how the second song’s called. Humor and music just doesn’t do it for me. First of all, you may listen to a song more than a thousand times in your lifetime, and even though The Waterboy was a funny movie the first few times, the funny part will eventually run out.

That’s one of the reasons why I hate Devin Townsend, too…

The musicianship, on the other hand, is still present in this song, but to a lesser extent, and the song structure seems to be less fleshed out, relying in a major part on the chorus “I always carry my birthday suit around / You never know when you’re gonna need it, right”.

Please, SA, no more humoristic songs!

The third song starts quite heavily, and that’s a welcome surprise because despite showing a high level of musicianship and song-writing, nothing’s been really heavy yet. Enseveli Sous Une Montagne de Jambes, which we could translate to Buried Under a Mountain of Legs, lol, gives the listener (and that’s you) a good time! Changing tempos, good riffs, nice licks, some harsh vocals, an out-of-place drum solo, and some variety in textures… Good!

Marty McFish is the instrumental song closing the EP. It’s also the longest one, at 6:43, which is still shorter than most overtures in the progressive metal world. It is quite entertaining, though, with a wide range of atmospheres created throughout the entire piece. And there’s still the bass playing, which is more than enough to keep you (the listener) interested. The last statement might not be true for groupies, guitarists, drummers, assholes, and deaf people, though.

Do you like cowbells?

Do you love the way that bell tolls, keeping the tempo and making you want to dance? What, that’s just me? Oh well… Even if you don’t like cowbell, there is, so get along with it!

Overall, this album shows the great potential of the band, even though it is not perfect. The sound quality is barely acceptable, but if we take this album as a demo, it is correct. The musicianship is present, though, and the fact that these guys can actually write good songs mean that you won’t be bored while listening to the CD over and over.